Struggling to Pick an efficient class

Right now playing an Engineer at level 48 but I've just lost my spark to play it completely. Have been contemplating a Guardian for awhile, levelled one to 13, but they seem such slow paced compared to my Engineer... I'm a high APM SC2 player if that makes any difference, I love playing stuff at a high pace, Guardian seems very... slow. I've been contemplating maybe trying a Thief or a Ranger, can anyone shed some light on this for me?

I've leaned on Engi/Thief/Ranger purely because A) I like Ranged, but I also like Melee. B) I love Roaming in SPvP and C) These 3 classes seem to have strong Damage, also can sit back and ranged in WvWvW (yay for Shortbow on Thief).

I'm very undecided on which one of these would suit my playstyle better, and I have no idea how squishy a Thief/Ranger would be for levelling up etc.. All 3 are condition damage which is awesome. I'm just not sure how the survivability on the Thief/Ranger would compare to the Engineer? (which is rather low)

For me, the most apm-cost profession might be the kit engineer, you have to coordinate various cooldowns if you want to shine like a diamond, you can even chain blinds, like 3 blinds in your "rotation".

Rangers are fine for leveling, you can go condition or just damage depending on the weapons. I like having the pets to be a tank, so I can usually solo things that are higher level than I am. I don't find it slow at all, I actually feel that I am leveling quite quickly.

Rangers are fine for leveling, you can go condition or just damage depending on the weapons. I like having the pets to be a tank, so I can usually solo things that are higher level than I am. I don't find it slow at all, I actually feel that I am leveling quite quickly.

Pretty sure he meant slow as in attacks rather than levelling. I think Ele can be pretty fast paced because they have so many abilities, so if you switch attunements a lot you'll have a lot at your disposal.

The only one more fragile than Thiefs are Elementalists, so if you want to roll in and lolspam everyone to death, don't role thief. However, if you are willing to take your chances, observe the situation and decide your attack pace by that, Thief, hands down. Thiefs can take wank-all when it comes to damage and in dungeons you will die quicker than everybody else if you don't swap between Short Bow and S/P, D/P, DD (depending on style, I love S/P for PvE, not for PvP) when needed to do so, but if played right it's an amazingly entertaining role to play and you can make a big difference when doing so.

Thief is all about speed, it's also the fastest moving profession and you have plenty of things to do in between Initiative-downtime moments, to keep up the pace.

The only one more fragile than Thiefs are Elementalists, so if you want to roll in and lolspam everyone to death, don't role thief. However, if you are willing to take your chances, observe the situation and decide your attack pace by that, Thief, hands down. Thiefs can take wank-all when it comes to damage and in dungeons you will die quicker than everybody else if you don't swap between Short Bow and S/P, D/P, DD (depending on style, I love S/P for PvE, not for PvP) when needed to do so, but if played right it's an amazingly entertaining role to play and you can make a big difference when doing so.

Thief is all about speed, it's also the fastest moving profession and you have plenty of things to do in between Initiative-downtime moments, to keep up the pace.

I'm all for weapon swapping depending on situations, I love that! But the squishyness has me worried, hence the Ranger suggestion

I wonder why everyone forgets about mesmer. They have less defense then elementalists, you know (same armor, stealth instead of immunity mechanics)? The only reason why they dont die as often is because people are stupid and target your clones despite them not having the up-leveled green arrow next to their name (unlike the original). In PvE, you will die just as fast as an ele, even faster if you choose to use a sword build.

Not really. Mesmers have a ton of defensive utility. In comparison, most elementalist builds seem to rely too much on kiting.

Ton of defensive utility? Pray tell exactly what you are talking about? Elemental have immunity spells (Mist Form) while we have stealth spells (Decoy). The difference is that Stealth dont stop incomming damage.

I wonder why everyone forgets about mesmer. They have less defense then elementalists, you know (same armor, stealth instead of immunity mechanics)? The only reason why they dont die as often is because people are stupid and target your clones despite them not having the up-leveled green arrow next to their name (unlike the original). In PvE, you will die just as fast as an ele, even faster if you choose to use a sword build.

They forget about them because they're not squishy, at all, spec that if you have 3 clones, take less damage, destroy those 3 clones, get 3 seconds of distortion. Really is a whole bunch of things can do to stay alive, as with any class. It's all about how the person want's to play, this game truly is bring the player not the profession.

---------- Post added 2012-09-08 at 03:33 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Nikijih

Ton of defensive utility? Pray tell exactly what you are talking about? Elemental have immunity spells (Mist Form) while we have stealth spells (Decoy). The difference is that Stealth dont stop incomming damage.

They forget about them because they're not squishy, at all, spec that if you have 3 clones, take less damage, destroy those 3 clones, get 3 seconds of distortion. Really is a whole bunch of things can do to stay alive, as with any class. It's all about how the person want's to play, this game truly is bring the player not the profession.

So what you are saying is that a tanky built mesmer is not squishy compared to a dps built elementalist? How does that prove anything? Or have you forgotten that ele can also spec into Earth/Water? Of course we can stay alive, not saying we cant, but that doesnt change the fact that we are just as squishy as elementalists, because they too can stay alive btw.

You've got much more than that.

No I don't. I have stealth spells, one damage reduction clone (cannot count it in PvE as it runs in melee and gets 1shot) and a single long-CD distortion that lasts for a maximum of 3 seconds. This is not up for debate: open a skill calculator and go read up on Mesmer. It really is that simple.

No I don't. I have stealth spells, one damage reduction clone and a single long-CD distortion that lasts for a maximum of 3 seconds. This is not up for debate: open a skill calculator and go read up on Mesmer. It really is that simple.

Oh, well, it's not open for debate because he says so.

How silly of us.

You REALLY are missing a huge amount of the class if you think that's ALL of your defensive skills, BTW.

You REALLY are missing a huge amount of the class if you think that's ALL of your defensive skills, BTW.

Because I said so? Hardly. Its not up for debate because its not a matter of opinion, its a matter of facts. Like I said: go open a skill calculator and go read up on Mesmer.

Or even better: which other defensive skills are you talking about? Can you even answer that? If you are so sure we are full of defensive skills that somehow makes us less squishy then an elementalist in PvE, can you name them?

I'm not a teacher and I'm not here to educate you, so please keep running around thinking that stealth is the only way to prevent damage and wondering why you're getting crushed.

Did I ever say I was getting crushed? Are you able to find a post from me even hiting at that?

If you want people to take your points seriously, you gotta be able to actually provide arguments to back them. Educate me? Please, you opened your trap without thinking it through and now you are just desperatly trying not to lose face too much by throwing generic bullshit around. The only reason why you cannot actually name those skills is because they don't exist, and you and I both know it.